Vegetable production is heavily dependent upon high off-farm inputs of polyethylene (plastic) mulch, nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides. Such a production practice potentially contributes to the unintentional environmental pollution with fertilizer and pesticides as well as water run off and soil erosion. This raises serious environmental concerns for human and animal health. The integration of...

Cover crops are important components of sustainable agricultural systems. They increase surface residue and aid in the reduction of soil erosion. They improve the structure and water-holding capacity of the soil and thus increase the effectiveness of applied N fertilizer. Legume cover crops such as hairy vetch and crimson clover fix nitrogen and contribute to the nitrogen requirements of subseq...

Hairy vetch (Vicia sativa L.) succeeded by corn (Zea mays L.)or grain sorghum (Sorghumbicolor L. Moench) were seeded insplit plots randomized within whole plots of no-tillage versus conventional tillage over four growing seasons (1980-83). The vetch-corn cropping system increased the density of Meloidogyne incognita 2.9 X more than the vetch-grain sorghum cropping system. I n contrast, the vetc...

Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) is a leguminous crop widely used as green manure and a cover crop in Japan. It exhibits strong weed-suppressing activity, high resistance to insect pests, and the ability to fix nitrogen through symbiotic interactions with soil bacteria known as rhizobia. Few studies have investigated the rhizobia that form nodules on hairy vetch in Japan, and the biological res...

Agroecosystem nitrogen (N) loss produces greenhouse gases, induces eutrophication, and is costly for farmers; therefore, conservation agricultural management practices aimed at reducing N loss are increasingly adopted. However, the ecosystem consequences of these practices have not been well-studied. We quantified N loss via leaching, NH3 volatilization, N2O emissions, and N retention in plant ...

Weeds may be suppressed by winter cover crops and the use of organic herbicides such as vinegar. Black oat (Avena strigosa) and hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) winter cover crops were planted for 2 years as part of a sustainable production system for cotton in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, and were till-killed each spring prior to cotton planting. Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri), commo...

The present experiment was conducted to study diet digestibility, feed intake, animal performance and carcass characteristics of growing dairy bulls offered diets based on whole-crop barley, a mixture of whole-crop barley and hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth.) or a mixture of whole-crop wheat and hairy vetch relative to moderate digestible grass silage-based diet. The feeding experiment with 24 ...

Current vegetable production systems use polyethylene (plastic) mulch and require multiple applications of agrochemicals. During rain events, runoff from vegetable production is enhanced because 50 to 75% of the field is covered with an impervious surface. This study was conducted to quantify off-site movement of soil and pesticides with runoff from tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) plots ...

in order to evaluate the density and dry weight of weeds and seed and oil yield of castor bean ricinus communis l.) as a medicinal plant affected by cover crops, an experiment was conducted at the agricultural research station, faculty of agriculture, ferdowsi university of mashhad, during growing season of 2008-2009. treatments were four cover crops included white clover, fenugreek, hairy vetc...

Sustainable soil and crop management practices that reduce soil erosion and nitrogen (N) leaching, conserve soil organic matter, and optimize otton and sorghum yields still remain a challenge. We examined the influence of three tillage practices (no-till, strip till and chisel till), four cover rops {legume [hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth)], nonlegume [rye (Secaele cereale L.)], vetch/rye bicu...